Thinking Home FAQ

Chances are, your question has been asked before and the answer is here. If not, you can also check the Thinking Home community forum.

Q: My controller is not found or not responding.

Q: How to get X10Commander working with Thinking Home?

Q: Can I access Thinking Home via the web?

Q: How do I clear the controller memory?

Q: My controller is not found or not responding.

A:

By far, the most common problem reported is that the home automation serial port is not found on Mac OS X. This is due to undesired default behavior of Network Preferences and is easily solved.

Even though you’re relying on Ethernet or Airport for networking, new serial ports are checked for modems and this confuses most X-10 controllers.

You want to make your serial port unavailable for networking so it will become available for home automation. Go to System Preferences, select Network. The next steps depend on which version of Mac OS X you are using.

This solution is for Leopard (10.5). Details for Tiger (10.4) and Panther (10.3) are similar.

Select your serial port from the list on the left and delete it by pressing the (—) button below the list.

You don’t want the OS networking even peeking at the port, asking modem-like questions of a home automation controller that can get confused by the unexpected data.

If this makes the port found and the controller is not responding, it is probably confused and needs all power removed for 15 minutes.

These steps will get you back in operation again.

Q: How to get X10Commander working with Thinking Home?

A:

The iPhone app, X10Commander, works well with Thinking Home. There are a few steps needed for setup, though. The built-in AppleHelp has a thorough explanation. This is a short description.

First, you need to decide whether you just want local access or access from anywhere in the world. Local access is a little easier to set up and does not need a cell phone signal, but is limited to your home. If your iPhone uses the internet, it can reach your home from anywhere in the world.

For both approaches, you'll need to set Thinking Home to answer requests from X10Commander (Preferences -> Extras -> X10Commander) and ensure the firewall allows those requests to make it through. (System Preferences -> Security -> Firewall).

For local (WiFi) access, point your iPhone directly to your Mac address (System Preferences -> Network).

For internet access, point your iPhone to your home’s internet address. You can find that by following this link. It tells you your own address, which will be your home if you follow it from your Mac. Enter this address into your iPhone’s X10Commander preferences. You'll also need to configure your home router to forward port 6003 to your Mac.

Q: Can I access Thinking Home via the web?

A:

Thinking Home does support web access. You just need to enable it in the Preferences window, under the Extras tab. The AppleHelp has more details on how to access it.

We now have sample files that you can place on your web server to provide a nice list of your devices. It even shows device status, too. You can get the sample here. A ReadMe file is included and it explains where the files go and how to customize.

Q: How do I clear the controller memory?

A:

The very first thing that Thinking Home does when storing a schedule into the controller memory is to clear the memory. This happens every time. So there is no need for a separate option to clear memory. It is the equivalent of storing an empty schedule.

If you want to leave an empty schedule in the controller without losing all your events set up in Thinking Home, you can switch to a different Schedule Set. Simply select a Schedle Set with no events. Your original events will remain in the original Schedule Set and you can switch back at any time.